Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2008 , Vol 54 , Num 4

Symphisis Pubis Stress Fracture: Case Report

Nural Albayrak Aydın 1 ,Nisa Ünlü 2
1 Güven Hospital Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Department, Ankara, Turkey
2 İntegra Görüntüleme Merkezi, Ankara

There are two kinds of stres fracture. One is fatigue fracture of a healthy bone during unusual mechanical overloading. This kind is seen particularly in young persons, such as athletes and most often affects the metatarsals, calcaneum, tibia and fibula. The second kind is insufficiency fracture, in which the bone has become fragile because of age, metabolic disorder, or prior orthopedic surgery and cannot withstand even moderate stress. This type of fracture particularly affects the elderly, and is by far most frequent in the pelvis. Diagnosis can be difficult if it is based only on the initial plain radiographs. Generally magnetic resonance imaging, bone sintigraphy and computed tomography are useful in localizing and diagnosing fractures. Good clinical results can be obtained with non-surgical treatment. Here we aimed to present the case of a young healty male adult presenting with symphisis pubis insufficiency fracture which occured secondary to osteopenia.

Keywords : Stress fracture, osteopenia, magnetic resonance imaging